Murderer John William Holznagel pictured alongside Ipswich West MP Wendy Bourne

A convicted murderer turned preacher handed out flyers alongside Labor MPs as an official ALP volunteer at the recent federal election, it can be revealed.

A convicted murderer turned preacher handed out flyers alongside Labor MPs as an official ALP volunteer at the recent federal election, it can be revealed.

Rosewood resident John William Holznagel was pictured alongside Ipswich West MP Wendy Bourne campaigning Labor’s Federal Blair MP Shayne Neumann.

It comes just days after the Sunday Mail revealed Holznagel, who brutally murdered his estranged wife and new boyfriend more than four decades ago, now leads the occasional lay service at St Matthew’s Lutheran Church.

A Facebook post dated April 19 captures Ms Bourne and Mr Holznagel together sporting campaign shirts for Mr Neumann, with Labor saying the Ipswich West MP was oblivious to his history at the time.

The post was captioned: ‘Beautiful day at the Rosewood Markets informing locals about the Federal Government’s record cost of living relief and importantly, the record spending on locals roads’.

Rosewood resident John William Holznagel was pictured alongside Ipswich West MP Wendy Bourne.

The post has since been deleted after the Courier-Mail approached Labor for comment.

An Opposition spokeswoman said: “The first time many Ipswich locals, including MPs, learnt of this history was in the Sunday Mail”.

Holznagel, then 24, and his wife Christine Joan Holznagel, 20, had been separated for several months in 1979 and shared a three-year-old daughter together.

Christine had moved in with 22-year-old John Steven Kingston, and Holznagel knew the couple would be out on Saturday, July 21, 1979.

He broke into Christine’s home on Mona St in Coorparoo about 6.30pm and lay in wait for several hours under his own daughter’s bed – the girl was away, staying with her grandparents.

When Christine and John returned about 11pm, Holznagel, armed with a fishing knife, crawled into the couple’s room and murdered them in a frenzied attack.

Christine’s siblings previously revealed the 20-year-old’s phone line had been cut weeks earlier.

Preacher John Holznagel in Rosewood.

“Before my sister was murdered she confided in me that her phone wasn’t working and hadn’t been working for a couple of weeks … no one came out and fixed it,” Christine’s older brother Peter Abel said. “But when I moved all the stuff out from under her house I found where her (line) had been cut.”

Speaking about a bloody handprint on a wall of the Mona St home, Peter said: “That was Christine’s handprint, it was beside the phone and the phone was off the hook … she’d tried to call (for help). I think Christine just got married too early. She was married at 17. I’d moved out of home, Christine wanted to move out of home and I think she saw (getting married) as a way of getting out.”

Christine’s sister, who wished to remain anonymous, described Holznagel as a “crazed animal”.

“You can’t do anything, but imagine what (Christine) went through … it wasn’t quick or with mercy, it was drawn-out and horrific,” she said.

While Christine’s younger brother Paul Abel said he came face-to-face with Holznagel at a family wedding about 20 years ago.

He said Holznagel was joined by his second wife, Judith, a former Queensland Corrective Services educational officer.

Paul said during the ceremony a man turned around and said ‘hi, how are you doing, it’s good to see you again’.

“As you do, I reached out and grabbed this person’s hand – it was only when I was holding his hand that I looked into his eyes and realised who it was. It was John,” he said.

“It was a very surreal feeling, shaking the same hand that had just killed my sister 20 years earlier.”

Holznagel was sentenced to life imprisonment on both murder counts but served about 13 years behind bars.

Detectives at the time believed Holznagel found the couple in bed, killed John, and forced Christine to change her clothing, with blood stains and knife holes on the bed sheets.

Holznagel then left the Mona St home, threw the knife into Breakfast Creek, and went to work the next day as a train guard before he was later arrested at Yandina.

Christine’s body was found near bloodstained walls on an enclosed veranda while John’s body was near the couple’s bedroom. The murder weapon was never recovered.

St Matthew’s Lutheran Church and Mr Neumann have been contacted for comment.

Originally published as Murderer John William Holznagel pictured alongside Ipswich West MP Wendy Bourne